Update
9:57 AM PT -- Gleb Savchenko's ex-wife, Elena Samodanova, is firing back at his claim she abducted their daughters and moved them to China
"Dancing with the Stars" pro Gleb Savchenko has filed a request for an
emergency child custody order as he claims his ex has kept their kids in Hong Kong since 2023 ... TMZ has learned.According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, Gleb shares two daughters, Olivia and Zlata, with his ex-wife Elena Samodanova ... and following their divorce, the girls relocated to Hong Kong with their mother.
But Gleb claims they agreed the move was only meant to be temporary and the kids were supposed to return to the United States by June 30, 2024 ... that never happened, and he now says Elena refuses to send them back.
In the docs, Gleb says Elena signed a Post Judgment Agreement back in 2023 allowing her to "temporarily" move their children to Hong Kong for one year so she could work on a project in the region.
Instead, Gleb claims Elena has "obtained permanent Hong Kong residency, enrolled the children in an expensive private school, got the children a cat, became engaged, and had another child with her fiancé." He says it's all part of an attempt to establish her and their children's lives and future in Hong Kong, without his permission.
Gleb says ... "This has functionally forced me to travel to Hong Kong each year to visit my children, which I have consistently done despite Elena's efforts taken to drastically limit my access to our daughters."
He wants the judge to grant him "temporary sole legal and sole physical custody" of their 15-year-old daughter Olivia -- with no visitation from Elena -- pending further court involvement after a scheduled hearing.
Gleb claims in his filing that Olivia, who is currently with him, does not want to be in Hong Kong with his mother, and it's in her best interest to live in and attend school in Los Angeles.
He says ... "Olivia does not want to be in the position of having to confront her mother considering Elena's recent abusive comments to our daughter, including that she is a 'disgrace' to the family and other disparaging comments."
Gleb also worries a return to Elena will "result in an international wrongful retention/abduction of Olivia."
The pro dancer further alleges Elena brought their kids to Moscow and Vietnam despite his protest. He said he did not want his kids traveling to Russia due to the ongoing war ... and accused Elena of taking them by bus for 20 hours to a small village in Moscow, without any cell phones.
In the docs, he is not specifically requesting a custody order for their youngest, 8-year-old Zlata, and is solely requesting custody of Olivia ... for now.
The exes have been ordered by the court to attend mediation over child custody on August 5, and a formal court hearing is scheduled a couple weeks after that.
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